Responsible Tourism
Bushcamp Company Invites Children To Draw Images Of How They Benefit From Boreholes By: Mahina Perrot (Wildlife Journalist) Photos: Richard Peek
C
hildren paint images showing the benefits of boreholes to illustrate their yearly calendar
Last June, The Bushcamp Company invited 20 children to Mfuwe Lodge, situated in South Luangwa National Park, to draw and paint images describing how the boreholes actually benefit them at home. They were supervised by the wellknown Zambian artist Mulenga Chafilwa. The children were asked to draw different scenes illustrating the various benefits of boreholes. The twelve best paintings have been selected and will be used for the calendar that the Bushcamp Company prints and sells every year. All of the profits will go to their community project “Commit to Clean Water”. The winners will get a prize and all of the children will also get to come back to Mfuwe Lodge and go on a game drive as a treat.
In Zambia, over 5 million people do not have access to clean water and over half the population lacks access to clean sanitation. As a result, hundreds of children under five die from diarrhoea and other diseases. People who have
Dickson Ngoma (Chiwawatala)
to walk long distances to get water from the river are constantly at risk of coming face to face with wild animals. The Bushcamp Company’s “Commit to Clean Water” project involves digging boreholes in nearby villages. One borehole supports about 200 people, or an entire village, and so far the company has dug a total of 42 boreholes. The benefits are immediately clear; children are healthier and get to spend more time in school, and farmers can now use hoses to water their crops and make a living.
“People can only appreciate the need for conservation when the daily demands of their own lives are met… The gift of something as simple as clean water helps fulfill those demands and ensures the preservation of a unique area where the needs of the human and natural world are too often in conflict,” says Ian Salisbury, Mfuwe Lodge’s General Manager.
The Bushcamp Company always tries to find new and innovative ways to help local communities and won National Geographic’s World Legacy Award in March 2016. TL Z
Benson Beza (Mfuwe Day)
TRAVEL & LEISURE ZAMBIA
21
